It is now frequent practice for persons engaged in livestock production to house livestock in an enclosed building, frequently referred to as a livestock confinement facility. The confinement facility provides a floor upon which the livestock is confined and includes a pit under part or all of the floor for collection of animal feces and urine. The floor over the pit is provided with openings to allow the drop of waste material into the pit. Normally, the solids fall to the bottom of the pit creating a thick sludge. As time progresses, the pit fills, presenting an emptying problem.
In some confinement facilitates, the collection pit is enlarged to provide a section of pit which is outside the walls of the building above. This section is provided with a large lid hatch, which can be opened or removed to allow introduction of a device into the pit cavity. Such devices typically include a cutting device at the lower end to loosen the precipitated solids and sludge, and a suction mechanism for removal of the waste material into a portable tank. Such removal devices are large and bulky and necessitate an extension of the pit from beneath the building itself.
In other facilities, no extension of a pit wall is made and the entry into the pit is gained by removal of sections of floor inside the building for introduction of the cutting and suction device into the pit. Naturally, the operation of the facility is interrupted for purposes of access to the floor above the pit.
In other facilities, tubes are installed at the time of construction into the side walls of the pits at intervals, usually in slanting fashion. These provide access to the pit area from outside the confinement facility, though the access is usually limited to devices of less than twelve inches in diameter. To empty such pits, suction is sometimes employed to remove the liquid portion. However, suction alone is insufficient to withdraw the solid on the bottom of the pit, and only an incomplete withdrawal can be completed. In order to better empty the pit, devices have been developed which agitate the solids by withdrawal of liquid material through suction and reintroduction under pressure of the liquid material through an adjacent tube to cause agitation and slurry of the solids. Such devices are of limited effectiveness. The instant invention addresses and solves the problem of agitation of solids into a slurry with the liquid manure when the confinement facility pit is equipped with only tubes leading through the side walls of the pit.